Lies and other ways to say I love you
by AxZi
Summary: Wherein Micho is an ennui ridden girl gifted with visions of the future who was recruited by Byakuran into his gang; Tsuna goes back in time along with Hibari after Byakuran beat them using those visions; and Tsuna decides that clearly the best course of action to court her to their side is him using some good ol' serial killer impersonator mafia seduction... ...wait, what?
1. First Vision

Disclaimer: fanfic, not the original.

* * *

She knew things. She had always known things. Nothing ever happening that she didn't know about or could predict would happen beforehand. As you can imagine, that meant Micho didn't have much fun in her life. Why bother entering a competition when you know you can't win? Why even think about befriending someone when your interactions with that person are already spelling out before you before the befriending could even start?

It was worse when it came to people's disapproval or antagonism. She didn't have to mess up to be met with visions of the aftermath. She didn't have to get on someone's wrong side before she could already feel the pain of that person's anger. It didn't matter if she went out of her way to not step onto people's toes, because the consequences were the same. In the end, Micho knew she couldn't change the visions she saw concerning her (and they always concerned her), because the visions themselves affected her as if they took place in real life.

So life was dreadfully boring, and there was no surplus of people she could trust. Micho was starting to find the end of her rope, to be honest. But she still obediently went to school, was polite to strangers and familiars alike, and lived her life as if she was any other school girl in Japan. It wasn't difficult to do so – as it wasn't difficult not to attract attention, because her actions were already spelled out before her.

All she had to do was act and react as she did in her visions. Get sympathetic about a friend's grandpa dying. Console another friend about her recent breakup with her boyfriend. Enjoy playing videogames with her best friend before later on he trounced her in sword fighting again. Lead a typical life, all it's pains and particularities, and then die.

That was how she expected her life to be, and what she thought would happen had always turned out correct.

Hence she was more than confused right now, because things weren't working as they should. Right in front of her, rather than fly towards Kyoko and proclaim her his undying love, the school's unfavourite was in front of her. His eyes were glowing a fierce orange as he fixed her with an intense stare. He didn't look ridiculous at all, despite his current state of undress.

She was even more startled when he rocked forwards and abruptly took hold of her hands. "Micho, will you be my girlfriend?" Somewhere behind the static she was aware of the fact that he'd dropped the pronouns in her name, but she was too busy blinking out about the fact that _this wasn't how it should be._

What Tsunayoshi Sawada had been meant to do was confess to his long time crush future wife, Kyoko. She would then be mixed up in a series of mafia hijinks with this same boy, who was being trained at the moment to be a mafia boss for the Vongola. He'd enter competitions to win the title of Vongola the Tenth with his trusty guardians, among which was Namimori High's crazy disciplinary Hibari and apparently suicidal riajuu Yamamoto Takeshi. Hana was going to be their secretary.

So yes, excuse Micho if she was freaking out a bit. Flinging her hands out, she pushed the slight boy away from her and began running in the direction of the gate because _no, whatever this was, she wanted no part of_ it. The panic was clouding her mind, constricting her airflow. Trying to ignore that, she simply pushed herself to run even faster.

Running blindly was good for the soul, Micho tried to convince herself. Exercise was good, since it was something she'd keep that her visions wouldn't take away from her, though going through the muscle pain twice was something she could go without. However, despite her best try, she couldn't prevent herself from going over the unexpected happening from just a moment ago.

Perhaps that's why she didn't see the bus coming until it was already too late.

* * *

Micho groaned, clutching her temples as she sat up in the hospital bed. She knew she was there and not somewhere else because the vision of the accident was still playing brightly against the darkness of her eyelids. She had never thought it possible to experience a vision at the same time as the incident before, but she supposed there was a first time for everything.

That included not having a vision at all of Tsunayoshi's complete one-eighty from the confession he was supposed to do to the confession which was more than messed up. She knew that he wasn't in love with her – she'd have had visions telling her of that if he did. Yet, instead of going towards his true honest love, who would eventually return his feelings and become a demure mafia wife, he had turned to her.

And his voice had grown at least two degrees deeper since she had heard him last, so it wasn't just the confession itself that was wrong but how he went about it.

Micho groaned again, punching her hand into her pillow before curling her knees up beside her and hugging the pillow to her waist. Why had that just occurred? She needed to know what exactly had changed since she had seen him last which made him decide lying to someone about being in love was the thing to do.

Was it Mochida? She knew that her friend had been getting very close to Kyoko lately and was on the verge of asking the girl out, so maybe that had led to Tsunayoshi's uncharacteristic behaviour? But, for chickening out, she wouldn't have thought he'd confess to someone else and especially when under the power of those special bullets.

Didn't those bullets not even allow someone to be dishonest? But that meant- Micho hissed underneath her breath and threw her covers away from her. They crumpled together at the bottom of her bed, next to its frame. At least she hadn't been injured badly, and that her visions were already working again so she could see the progression of her getting better soon.

Ah, maybe it was better to fall asleep than ruminate further. That in mind, she pressed her eyes even firmer together and tried to relax her body.

It was harder than it seemed.

Her life continued to be wrong when she was checked out of the hospital. She had to use crutches to get around because of her fractured ankle, but while she was limping towards the car that was waiting to bring her back home, she caught sight of Tsunayoshi leaving the hospital as well.

They both froze as their eyes met. His were no longer that particular shade of eye-searing orange and she almost missed it, because without it she couldn't tell herself this was a dream. This was reality.

"Did you come to visit me?" she asked.

He scratched the back of his neck, and she could see the awkwardness permeating the air around him. "You ran into traffic because of me," he mumbled, not hesitant. No, as she saw him peek at her, she couldn't call him reluctant at all.

"I see." Micho valiantly resisted the urge to avert her gaze to her toes, instead rocking back and forwards on the balls of her feet. She winced as the sharp pain crackled through her and stopped immediately. Wait-that was wrong-

Shouldn't her visions have warned her about the state of her ankle and have prevented her from actually hurting it?

A blink, and Tsunayoshi had slid his arm around his waist. Supporting her, he helped her towards the car and then also helped slide her into it. Micho's mother looked at the boy from the front row in curiosity, and when he looked to shut the door instead invited him to come along.

"My daughter almost never brings her friends back home anymore, so we'd love to have you," she said.

And that was that.

Her father was staring at the boy as if he wanted to dissect him on the science slab they kept in the basement. Micho's brother was not much better, coolly inspecting the boy through long fringed blue eyes. They had gone a shade colder, though without her visions she couldn't speculate whether it was from calculation or distaste.

Tsunayoshi twiddled his thumbs from beside her, glancing up at her now and then as if assuring himself she was still alive, or maybe that she still wanted him around.

If so, he was flat out of luck, because her lack of visions were just disturbing, and the fact that he was there was also just very disturbing. As a rule of the thumb, her house was a boy free place except for maybe Mochida, and only because her parents knew the boy's parents and he would never be able to get away with anything.

She let her shoulders slump as she exhaled noisily and ruined the Texas stare down between the boys of the household. "Honourable father, big brother, this is Tsunayoshi Sawada-san. He's a classmate, and he was going to visit me at the hospital to give me his condolences." She switched her gaze to the boy. "Weren't you, Tsunayoshi-san?"

If nobody had been there, she might have slipped up and called him Tsuna, since that was what everyone in her visions would call him. She was so used to not making her own decisions and being aware of herself, that it was difficult staying conscientious like this. Usually, she knew what was coming and what to say from her visions, after all.

She just couldn't do at the moment.

The boy bowed his head. Somehow, the spikes of his hair stayed rigidly upright. "I'm sorry, Nakamura-san, and Nakamura-sama, but it's my fault the accident happened in the first place." She could almost groan, because to prevent that had been the reason she had given him the out in the first place. She didn't want him drawing the attention of her family.

"No-" she tried to interject, but her honourable father lifts his hand and she is deemed silent.

The thickness in the air heightened as her family wait for Tsunayoshi to finish.

He twiddled his thumbs again, bows his head. Bites his lip. "She ran away because I….confessed."

And just like that, the atmosphere instantly lightened. It was like the first breath of fresh air, and Micho drooped, leaning forwards as she rested her forehead against the arms she had dropped onto the kitchen table.

Her mother, the frail woman, practically sparkled. Sharing a sly look with her husband, she clasped her hands together and smiled. "Please, tell me more."

God, Micho wished the ground would just yawn open wide and eat her right up. But she never had the luck.

* * *

"Your parents love me." Flowers were blooming behind the scrawny boy, and a healthy flush had taken over his cheeks. It almost looked like he was feverish, and she supposed that if he did think himself in love, such was the stuff of his dreams.

Micho might have felt blustered herself if she didn't know she wasn't the love of his life, but Kyoko, the school's idol. Someone who Micho could not even in a million years live up to.

"My parents are afraid that, at this rate, I'll never marry," she corrected him before he could start letting in even more foolish ideas than he already had. The girl Micho was – the one that the visions showed her to be – wasn't the type to ever bring back boys home even if she liked them, since she knew her family always saw too much into it.

She also knew that her big brother Ryouto enjoyed being the most important boy in her life and didn't want to take it away from him. She was a bit of a bro-con, after all. Mochida had never factored in for her brother because the boy thought that his friendship was being forced upon her rather than wanted. Naturally, that wasn't true, but she hadn't ever bothered correcting Ryouto's misconceptions here. She hadn't ever felt bothered by them, truthfully.

Tsuna's eyes had become stars and he rotated on the spot. "I'm husband material?" She felt like her words were going through one ear and out the other. Scrubbing her hand over her face, she glared at the boy. This was going a bit too far for a joke- as it couldn't be anything else. She was really starting to get irritated.

This time he sensed that and stopped smiling, which was good. That let her close the distance between them without regret, and hiss – "Whatever this is, is this some kind of joke? Did someone put you up to this?" because the lack of visions were really starting to stress her out.

"N-no, really not!" the boy said, his voice terse like he was being stretched to his limits. He looked away with a flush. "I…..I've been thinking about you for a while now. I'd look at you sometimes in class…Acting as if I liked Kyoko because I didn't want to make people hate you."

Her eyebrows knitting together, she asked him to please elaborate.

"You know what I mean, so I don't have to say it. I'm dame-Tsuna, remember? Being seen with me might make you get bullied. That's why I didn't want to grow close to you."

"And your mock-crush on Kyoko?"

"Everyone has a crush on Kyoko," he said defensively. She could see he was scowling now, toeing the floor beneath him bashfully with the tip of one of his boots. "I thought it wouldn't stand out and her reputation wouldn't get damaged. It wasn't, right, so does it matter?"

"I'd have a lot less difficulty believing you if that never happened," she retorted and turned around so she wasn't watching him anymore. Actually being able to hold a conversation with someone without knowing what would come next was making her feel nervous. Micho wanted to be done with it already.

"You're not going to give me a chance," Tsuna said weakly, wilting. He must want her to turn around and regard him, but Micho could be stubborn if she wanted to be. Micho wasn't going to give the one who had shattered her current life the pleasure.

So she turned on her heel. "Okay, so you want me to give you a chance. How can I, when you haven't been _listening_ to me since yesterday? Since our interactions began?" She could see the same thing as before – rich flowers and golden sparkles surrounding the slight boy, though he had hunched up his shoulders and seemed even smaller than before.

She heaved a sigh and raked a hand through her hair, snagging waxed spikes between her fingernails. "I really don't think I can do this: that _we_ can do this. Not even as friends." She clucked her tongue in distaste. "So this is goodbye."

Turned on her heel, she called back – "So don't follow me," and strode away from the house's garden. Hopefully that was the last that she'd see of him.

Hopefully.

She seriously doubted it.


	2. Second Vision

Disclaimer.

CHAPTER TWO: Cleaning up sparkles are actually a nuisance, you know?

* * *

Soft tapping could be heard, the reception room vacate as always except for the two teens (not as always). The older one of them, the taller and more built of the two, with ink black hair and cheekbones which could cut rock was glaring balefully at the other, giving the impression of a wet cat. The other, the scrawnier boy of the two, sitting slouching against the bottom of the couch, accepted this treatment with an expressionless face.

Finally, the older boy gave in with a frustrated hiss, raking his hands through his hair in quick, deft movements. "Really, Tsuna? I had it all arranged: the hit and run, the lack of any spectators except for you, the perfect moment for a kill. And instead, for whatever reason, your ruined it. Why would you _do_ that?"

The other boy, now identified as Tsuna, lifted his hands in placification. "I don't believe your what you were trying to do would've worked. The hit and run happened too near to the school's gate, and she and I drew attention with the argument we were having right before she left, Hibari. Her injuries also weren't as grave as they could've been."

"All very logical," Hibari bit of a curse, "Except for the fact that you knew you needed to keep a low profile. I told you in before that this was going to happen. No, you did this precisely to save her life. And for what reason? Why?"

Tsuna tented his fingers together. "You know why."

But Hibari really, really didn't.

"Is it because even now...you won't kill someone you might be able to save," the older boy gave it his guess. His voice thick with frustration. This was the most emotion Tsuna had gotten out of him, maybe, ever. "The reason why the problem of her can't be settled in just a day. Because you have to be the perfectionist."

The brownhaired boy opposite him shook his head. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't jeopardize the safety of the future for just one person."

Forming his hands into fists over the table, Hibari asked: "Then what? Explain your reasoning." The glare that accompanied it just screamed "and do it now."

"For future use."

Hibari's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

Tsuna just smiled, an enigmatic tilt of his lips, before he explained: "It's for future use. Think about it, Hibari. I know you're not dumb-" the look Hibari shot him was insulted. "Think about it. With her visions, Byakuran managed to succesfully beat _us_ , who'd been putting a decade of work into our rebellion." His smile split his cheeks so he was grinning. "Think about her on our side. And what we'd be able to do if that comes true."

With dark eyes, the pupils dilating as this all sunk in, Hibari watched. And he listened.

"-and I'm telling you, my parents are in love with that boy. In love! They not only heard it was his fault I ran into that bus, but also that I don't care for him. And yet they're already hearing wedding bells," Micho complained from where she was lying with her back against the bench, luxuriating in the sun coming from the window. She was imitating the look of a particularly spoilt cat.

Mochida grunted something beneath his breath as he cut the air before him, his sword held aloft. The only reason she wasn't right next to him was the fact that she still needed crutches. Though of course she did: the hospital had only just discharged her.

Micho restlessly rolled over to her side, cheek bench forwards. "The only one I think is on my side here is-" she sighed, "Can you believe it-? Ryouta."

Mochida grunted again, non-commitally. Micho quickly checked into the future when exactly he would answer her back, before an expression unspooled across her face like she'd bitten into a lemon. "Me being in a more emotion state than usual does not mean I like the boy!"

The boy covered from top to inch in ceremonial kendo armor grunted. It sounded like denial.

Micho uncurled from the bench and agitatedly reached for her crutches next to it. "It really doesn't."

Mochida didn't say anything. Exhaling the breathe from her nose, Micho started towards the exit.

She got what he meant though. As her best friend, Mochida obviously got to be in her presence more often than others. Than she'd ever let anyone other than her family, actually, it was that bad. Again, it was mostly because of her visions. Anyone would stop trying to befriend people if they had to deal with the stuff she did.

So, he knew her better. And probably, had noticed long ago that Micho was normally an unflappable person. Nothing surprised her, so she was never surprised. Shocker! But that also meant that she had pre-warning to any bad news, and could choke any emotions that might arise from it. A very unhealthy method of keeping her cool? Maybe. But also effective, and her instinctual reaction by now whenever something happened.

Tsuna had thrown all of that out of of alightment by for some reason throwing her future sense of. Not completely, though. She had to admit, the car crash had been caused by him, and she'd been sent a vision of it while in the midst of it. Which, she really could have done without. But it was in some ways a breath of fresh air. She'd almost been worried something was wrong with her, since she knew the visions were just how she worked. They were natural, they were a part of her. It'd be difficult adapting if she had to go without.

That had Micho pause, and she looked thoughtfully up at the corridor ceiling. Would she even be able to?

Moving past one of the shut classroom doors, Micho put the thought aside to chew on later.

Ryouta popped his head in past the cabinet, saying: "...Why did I leave my xbox controller here? So confused."

"AH!" The stack of cheese she'd been balancing out of a sense of boredom went flying all over the place. She made a face at the cheese in the sink. "Ryouta. Don't do that."

He retrieved himself from behind the cabinet to stand closer to her without any barriers between them. "You're usually never surprised, though," he observed, his tone hedging onto disapproval, and leaned his back against the edge of the hard glass table inside the kitchen.

"What do you expect from me, Ryouta?" she asked in response. "Perfection? Even I'm human, and make mistakes."

Just not usually, went left unsaid, though she knew he was thinking the same.

"Is it the boy? Is this whole situation with that kid having the hots for you knocking you off balance?"

"Good guess," she said, with a wan smile, and began stacking the packets of cheese again. "There's something wrong about that kid. Something suspicious. And the fact he easily managed to charm our parents when he's never met them before, and _nobody else_ has ever been able to do that without first knowing what buttons to press..." She brushed back her fringe, looking her brother straight in the eyes. "It's possible he's been stalking me."

A furrow immediately carved its way between Ryouta's eyes as he unhappily observed her. He had been listening keenly, filing away each word she said away in the filing cabinet of his mind, to be picked through and separated later. The conclusion she'd pulled was dour. If it was really true.

Micho let her hair fall, dropping her hand onto the table. "And that's why I need your help. We need to convince our honourable parents about his true nature."

"But how are you going to do that?" Her brother folded his arms together, looking at her over his cable knit sleeves. "You can't stalk a stalker. Putting cameras around the house is also not an option, mother and father will notice them easily. And I sure don't have enough allowance to buy devices like that, do you?"

She pulled a sour gaze and looked moodily off into the distance. "I know that... But can you really not persuade them just by your words? You're Ryouta aren't you. You're my dependable big brother—they'll _know,_ more than when it comes from me, that you have my best interests in mind."

Her brother let out a mirthless snort. "Me, persuade mother and father? They run roughshod over me, as much as they do you, and they always think they're the ones who are correct. You know that." He turned a searching gaze on her. "... So you really do think he's a stalker, huh?"

Because otherwise you wouldn't be so desperate, went left unsaid in the soft atmosphere of the morning.

Her brother's lips pulled at the corners, the light reflecting off of his eyes and almost making them look glassy. ".. Alright then. I'll see what I can do."

She immediately brightened, catapulting herself from the chair. She winced when the sudden movement made it topple over with a _bang._

"Don't get your hopes up, though." Her brother lifted his finger in the air as he dodged her attempted hug with a casual back step. "Your camera idea won't work, so... I'm going to have to use _other methods_ for this."

 _Other methods?_ She looked wonderingly at her brother's fresh face, but the man simply smiled mysteriously with a raise of the corners of his mouth. His lips were sealed.

"Okay."

And so, the deal was struck.

But now, that meant Micho was still going to have to go to school and other activities easily stumbled upon by Tsuna.

And while, _yes,_ she could hermit it up and just never go outside for however long it'd take Ryouta to make his ominously spoken "preparations," the consequences if her parents found out about it would be dire. Which is what she found whining about the next time she saw Mochida, which was the next Sunday over.

"Whine whine whine!" she said intelligibly to Mochida, lying belly forwards on the grass. It was their lunch break, and the air practically tasted of pollen. A beautiful day to play outside. Or in Micho's case, to say the word "whine" over and over.

Mochida let out an understanding grunt, his back lying against a tree trunk, one hand from time to time bringing the chopsticks from his bento to his face.

If he were someone else in this situation, he'd actually ask what the matter was with her, but Mochida and her did not work that way.

No, Mochida was much like an outlet to her. He cared about her because he was her best friend, and so he also knew the best way to calm her down from her troubles. But because _she_ cared about him, she often didn't want to lay her troubles bare, because she knew they'd fester in him, especially when they were as serious as they are now.

So instead she had a system in place. She'd run simulations, peek forwards into the future of "if" she _did_ tell him her worries, and then just let his answer soothe her, while at the same time not say anything of particular importance, so while she got her emotional support from him, he didn't actually have to carry her burdens.

It was a system that worked well, in her opinion. Though she knew well enough it was a system which only made her seem even more deranged than she already was with this foresight bullshit.

And perhaps because he'd been around her since she was in kindergarten, or because it looked like she cared about him a lot to the point she could predict what he'd say, Mochida got that she was getting something from these interactions, it was a win-win situation.

Tearing a blade of grass from the earth, Micho rolled herself upright again. And speaking of the devil...

"Micho! So this was were you were!" His bright voice tearing apart her equillibrum again, Tsunayoshi Sawada crossed the field over to them while waving his hand.

Mochida stopped mid swing, his gaze swiveling to track the boy making his way over to them.

"Tsuna." Micho made sure her voice was toneless, giving all of her antipathy away. "Was there anything you wanted."

The boy sparkled at her in response, swaying on the balls of his feet when he came to a stop a scant meter away from her. "I just wanted to see you. You are doing alright, right? You're not in pain?" He brandished a silver oblonque pill at her, "Because I've got some pain killers for you if you are." A sugar-won't-melt-on-my-touch expression was on his face.

Mochida sent her a glance of shocked disbelief. She shook her head. She couldn't believe this guy either.

Micho turned her attention back on Tsuna. "That's very kind of you, Tsuna, but I'm quite capable of looking after my pain management on my own. And you know how I feel about you."

At those words, the boy affected a saddened face, complete with sagging shoulders. "I know."

But she noticed he kept his eyes locked on her, unwavering. She felt herself instinctively bristle.

Mochida to the rescue. "Yes, it doesn't stop you, but it makes her uncomfortable." 'So you should stop,' went left unsaid.

Mochida was her hero, Micho swore to god.

Tsuna looked over at Mochida for the first time since he'd entered the field. For the first time, he also looked like he was actually seeing him, contrary to before when his eyes slid right over him.

There was no change in hostility, no reaction except a faint smile. "Oh, I'm sorry." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, glancing back to her and then to him again. "I'm being pushy right now, aren't I?"

"You really are."

"I'm sorry," he repeated, ever the picture of an innocent, contrite, school-aged boy, but it just made her hackles rise.

Whether it was because it felt he wasn't getting it—his apology should be most bigger if he did, didn't it?—or because she had simply made up her mind not to trust anything from him, she still had to see.

But, even in her doubt-ridden mind, she took note of how genuine he looked. And if he really hadn't realized how he was coming over, and if he really did have a crush on her...

Micho sighed, combing her hair back with an open hand and said, "It's okay. Just don't do it again. I don't want you to come to me this way again."

The rigidity of his back immediately vanished at her words, and he sparkled. "You forgive me?"

She rubbed the back of her neck and looked away and mumbled, "Yeah yeah." The bubbly manner he bounced back was just giving her a weird feeling in her stomach.

"Oookayyyy! Then I'll be of, Mochida-senpai, Micho-senpai!" He bowed his head at them before dashing off.

Micho felt slightly poleaxed as he watched him slowly retreat from their clearing. Eventually he said, "So that's how Tsuna is around you, huh?"

"Yeah." She plopped back onto the grass, though the bell was going to go soon. "It's a problem."

And, even tho he promised he wouldn't keep on bothering her, it soon became clear those were empty words.

During the morning.

"Micho-senpai!" He waved on her front step. "I'm here to walk you to school!" Sparkle sparkle.

While in the hallways.

"Micho-senpai!" The clumsy boy was running behind her, hitting an unfortunate bystander with his windmilling arms. "Let me carry your bags!" Roses bloomed behind his messy hair. The poor unfortunate bystander groaned, a red mark on his face.

During gym class.

Tsuna stubbornly turned his head. "No. I want to be on Micho-senpai's team." He blushed, and an entire field of blooming flowers somehow stretched out from him, obscuring the rest of the gym hall from sight. Mouth gaping open, the team leader who for once had taken pity on Tsuna let the ball fall with a thump. The sound was pitiful.

A particular disturbing example happened when she was taking a bus to an event. It was when she'd side-stepped some guy's grope, playing to make a spectacle out of it so this ass would get his public commuppance, when just after she'd dodged Tsuna popped up beside her, the man's wrist clutched between his fingers. He smiled at her sweetly and said, "Micho-senpai! Let me kill this man for trying to do that to you?"

She jolted backwards because, _how, where'd he even come from-_ before his words truly filtered in, and then she realized everyone else had heard him too, and now they had a circle of probing eyes on them.

"What are you, crazy?!" The man in the suit tried tearing his hand away from Tsuna, but apparently the boy was more muscular than she'd thought or maybe had simply released his dying will seal early, because he effortlessly kept hold and continued smiling at her from the man's side as if he was inconsequential

"What's happening..."

"Is that Nana's boy..."

"...He'll _kill_ him?"

The people around them were starting to mutter. If she was going to interrupt this, she'd have to act fast.

"Ahahaha, Tsuna, what are you doing? C'mon, this is going a bit far for a joke, right?" She said immediately, as she tugged the boy's sleeve and deliberately got all his focus to centre on her. "Now, please let his hand go... I think having the entire compartment know he gropes young women is enough punishment..."

The atmosphere in the bus quickly turned.

"...That man, groped that girl?"

"Ew, he really does look like that sort of person, doesn't he..."

"Hmph, the people of today... it's all that manga's fault..."

The mutters even included a proud, "...good boy, standing up for that girl."

She winced at that, shooting a look at Tsuna. Had he caught it? He really, really didn't need any positive reinforcement, that was for sure.

The man sweated. "But I didn't... no, I didn't..."

The eyes were now on him, glaring, though Micho was paying more attention to the powderkeg that was Tsuna.

The boy's mouth formed a distasteful moue, and she thought at any time he'd stamp the floor. "But he tried to do _that_ to you, Micho-senpai... he should be punished..."

He looked the very picture of a spoiled child now, and Micho held in a groan and the urge to cover her face.

 _I mean, I knew he was pretty young and childish at this age, but isn't this a bit much._

"Micho-" he repeated, taking in a quick breathe to say something more when she grabbed onto his arm and with it pulled him away from the anstiger.

This was something Tsuna didn't counteract, _thankfully._ Micho still wanted to groan in second hand embarrassment though, and instead dragged the pliant boy with her to a corner of the compartment while a slender security guard, drawn by the commotion, dealt with the groper.

Thankfully, the removal of him from the bus seemed to leech the attention off of them and soon they were as anonymous as usual. Or as she was as usual, she didn't feel like Tsuna ever was able to melt into the background even back when he'd been useless.

Anyway, now that was sorted, she reeled onto Tsuna and said, "What were you thinking?" in a very grave tone.

"I wasn't thinking anything?" The doe-eyed boy blinked back at her innocently, his head at a clueless tilt and daffeldils spontaneously popping into existence around him. _Seriously, was nobody else seeing those_? But when she glanced out of the corners of her eyes, nobody was even looking at them. _That's worrisome, so it's just me after all?_

"I can surely _see that_ -" she stopped herself in the midst of the words, and sighed through her nose. "But okay. I guess I can see where you're coming from." If it were anyone else than her, who'd known the guy was a sexual offender and had counterparts in place, she'd probably even have been cheering at seeing the way he'd treated that man.

After all, she hated those that thought they had the right to another's persons autonomy most of all. It felt like the worst sort of violation a person could do. _If only he didn't say out loud "can I kill him" for anyone to hear... I don't want my reputation to sink._

Micho took the moment to understand the trail her thoughts were going and moved her hands up to massage her temples. _Man have I internalized my mother's lectures on appropriateness wayyy too much._

"But I really like to see how kind you are, Micho-senpai," Tsuna said, his expression softening. "I already knew you were, but... any more evidence that you are is always welcome."

Gulp. Now Micho felt even more like an ass for just thinking about her reputation being on the line. A facet of her mind quickly rallied against the thought, however. _He can't judge me on anything! He's been stalking me and ever since so much events have been going off the rails! This is his fault!_

She had a moment of realization (When will those end).

 _Maybe I am truly the immature one._

Meanwhile, Tsuna's head had somehow migrated onto her shoulder. She shot him an arch look, and he pouted but obligingly moved his head back, which, hey, she hadn't expected.

Actually, now that it had migrated- _nope, nope. Not thinking that._

" ... Well, I think I owe you a thanks as well. For not immediately mauling that guy," she mumbled back. _Lalala~ I am not thinking about it!_

Shedding sparkles around, just, everywhere, Tsuna craned his neck and smiled at her.


End file.
